first-person

If you were to cross Mario with Resident Evil, what would you get? Probably something that looks a lot like Brandon Laatsch's YouTube video of Mario as a first-person game.

This vision of Mario follows the final level. It's moody. Rain pours down. Rocky Wrenches pop up and throw dangerous tools. I half expect zombies to shuffle out of the shadows. It culminates with an impressive fight scene with Bowser. The only thing we're missing is a rendering of Mario meeting up with his princess.… Read more

Avid gamers will recall that EA's Battlefield 1942 was one of the most popular titles...of 2002. It was the game that kicked off the entire Battlefield series, which, in the past decade, has produced some monster hits.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, EA's Origin store is offering Battlefield 1942 (PC) free of charge. Don't worry that it appears on Origin's Demos page; it's definitely the full game.

To get it, you'll need an Origin account and the Origin download client, both free, both akin to Steam (but solely for EA games, natch). With … Read more

Whether you're an old-school gamer or a recent fan of Valve's Steam games, don't miss the chance to play (or replay) the critically acclaimed classic first-person shooter Half-Life in its latest re-imagining for free with the total conversion mod Black Mesa (download, 4GB).

After eight years of development, the Black Mesa Modification Team has finally released a remake of the award-winning FPS Half-Life. Utilizing more than 40 developers and headed by project leader Carlos Montero, the team has reconstructed the fan favorite into a polished Source Engine version complete with new models, maps, textures, voice acting, and … Read more

After last year's ho-hum (but nevertheless profitable) Modern Warfare 3 release, it honestly takes a healthy dose of caffeine to get excited about Call of Duty these days. However, Crave can't deny the cool factor in these Black Ops 2 collector's editions, available for pre-order before the game arrives November 13 for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 platforms.

Developer Treyarch put together two configurations -- a Hardened Edition and a Care Package ($79 and $179, respectively) -- that should mostly satisfy the Call of Duty junkies who love to incessantly purchase every iteration of the game. … Read more

Modern Combat: Fallen Nation is a first-person shooter with jaw-dropping graphics. The third installment in Gameloft's Modern Combat series for iOS, this game challenges you to fight through 13 missions from Pakistan to Los Angeles, and you will find and use several different kinds of weapons as you complete mission objectives. The game is a universal download, so you can play on any of your iOS devices, but we think it is at its best on the iPad.

You get three different types of control schemes to pick from, with variations of onscreen joysticks and touch-screen actions. I found … Read more

Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine have been studying the effects of media violence for more than a decade. Now, for the first time, they are showing that violent video games directly alter brain activity--not after years of play, but after one week.

It must be noted that the researchers, who presented their findings at this week's Radiological Society of North America annual meeting in Chicago, studied only 28 young men, ages 18 to 29. In other words, these findings are preliminary at best.

Still, the small study shows a direct relationship between playing violent video games … Read more

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's overnight launch has caused a big headache for premium players.

The first true casualty of the military simulator is the new free and subscription-based Elite service, which has buckled under the stress from "hundreds of thousands of players" who have registered, according to a statement from Activision Blizzard.

A comment from Reddit member "ButterflySammy" indicates that users are having trouble with clans or using some of the other Elite features: "You just can't set up any clans or use any of the other elite features on any platform." … Read more

Each year around this time, a new Call of Duty game hits store shelves. But this year, the stakes are even higher with expectations of sales breaking all entertainment-industry records.

Today, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was made available to gamers who want to play the title on all major consoles or the PC. As with previous iterations of the famed franchise, Modern Warfare 3, which was developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision, puts gamers into the role of a soldier fighting through battles in the first-person. The game is available for $60.

Even before Modern Warfare … Read more

Get ready for another blockbuster Call of Duty launch.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said in a research note yesterday that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which is scheduled to hit store shelves next week, will likely become the bestselling game this year, and could very well beat out its predecessor, Call of Duty: Black Ops, in total sales.

"If Modern Warfare 3 receives strong review scores, it should at least match predecessor Black Ops' sales (over 25 million units) due to the network effect," Pachter said. In a follow-up interview with IndustryGamers, Pachter said he thinks Modern Warfare 3 will outsell Black Ops by 10 percent during its first six weeks of availability and generate a total of $1.1 billion during that time.

If that happens, Modern Warfare 3 will become the bestselling game of all time, beating out Black Ops, which generated $1 billion during its first six weeks on store shelves. That title took the crown from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.… Read more